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First Impression: Logan (2017)

Three days ago the good lads at Fox decided to drop the first poster and a synopsis for Hugh Jackman ‘s next and final Wolverine movie: Logan. The poster offered a few interesting clues about the plot of the film, from the scars and scratches on Logan’s arm to the tiny hand gripping his hand. This latest report reveals new info about the futuristic setting of the film, Logan’s status as the story begins, the identity of the child whose hand is seen in the poster, and more.

Note: Below is not spoilers just information on articles I have read – if you want to stay in the dark please don’t read on.

Logan is inspired by the Old Man Logan arc from the comics, which sees an aged Wolverine called back into action. Director James Mangold has shared a script page that explains Logan’s condition at the start of the film. “As for our hero, well, he’s older now and it’s clear his abilities aren’t what they once were. He’s fading on the inside and his diminished healing factor keeps him in a constant state of chronic pain — hence booze as a painkiller,” it reads. “So by all means, go ahead and worry about him.”

The film is set in the year 2024. Mutant births have started to decline, for reasons that no one really understands. Meanwhile, our mutant heroes are in bad shape. Logan is sick and self-medicating with alcohol, and his powers are in decline to the point that sometimes he doesn’t heal at all. Professor X, who’ll be played by Patrick Stewart, has found his own powers growing more unstable. At times he struggles even to remember Logan, who is taking care of him.

Helping Logan with Professor X is Caliban, an albino mutant played by Stephen Merchant. It is unclear if this is the same character played by Tómas Lemarquis in this summer’s X-Men: Apocalypse. Given this franchise’s approach to continuity, or rather lack thereof, I think it could really go either way.

The story involves a sketchy government operation called Transigen that turns young mutants into killing machines. Bryan Singer has already confirmed Mister Sinister as the main villain of Logan, so we’re guessing Essex Corp is behind all of this. One of the kids caught up in the program is the little girl whose hand is on the poster. She’s a mutant like Logan, though with two claws instead of three (sound familiar?), and he takes her under his wing.

The film will be “darker than any other Wolverine or X-Men movie,” which fits with everything Jackman and the filmmakers have been saying about this movie. Producer Simon Kinberg has confirmed Logan will be rated R, describing it as a “violent” story with shades of a western. And the script page revealed by Mangold suggests we’re not talking about bloodless, consequence-free movie violence: “people will get hurt or killed when shit falls on them. They will get just as hurt or just as killed if they get hit with something big and heavy like, say, a car. Should anyone in our story have the misfortune to fall off a roof or out a window, they won’t bounce. They will die.”

Judging from this I for one am excited and most important: it sounds like a fitting swan song for Jackman’s portrayal of the character. Logan drops March 3, 2017.